Ransomware, what does it do?

[Windows Central Question]

Ransomware

I don't have any problem but the recent news about Ransomware becoming more prevalent has me wondering about backups.
My question is does it lock only the C drive or all different partitions in my computer? I have two internal drives with 4 partitions and one external that is connected all the time so I was wondering if I need to backup the other drives/partitions?

 

[KimRM]

Re: Ransomware

Connected USB drives will get its files encrypted and locked if you get ransomware on your computer, so I think this goes for other partitions of internal hard drives also.

 

[xandros9]

Re: Ransomware

It really depends on the kind of ransomware you get, because it depends on who coded it. Whether they decided to make it target only floppy drives or whatever. To be safe, backup whatever drive is within easy reach of your computer. (anything plugged in most of the time)

 

[jmshub]

Re: Ransomware

And it may seem obvious, but it needs to be said... make sure your backups are offline and hopefully off-site. Don't always have your backups on the same computer, or any ransomware could encrypt the backups as well as the primary copy of the data.

 

[jtpcamp]

Question about Ransomware

This does not affect me but since the news items about Ransomware getting more prevalent I am wondering if it only locks up just the C drive or all other partitions on two hard drives and one external drive that is always connected?

 

[RumoredNow]

Re: Ransomware

It really depends on the kind of ransomware you get, because it depends on who coded it. Whether they decided to make it target only floppy drives or whatever. To be safe, backup whatever drive is within easy reach of your computer. (anything plugged in most of the time)

 

[jmshub]

That 133t h4x0rz totally infected all my Jaz drives! :angry:

 

[Willm_C]

My concern is that ransomware will not only encrypt and lock local and mapped drives but also, via the sync function, OneDrive folders as well.
I am considering using a Onedrive account but without the desktop app so that no sync is available by Onedrive. My thoughts are to sync my folders to that Onedrive account using a 3rd party application - in my case Goodsync. Goodsync can access a Onedrive account directly.
My reason for this is that I can have much greater control over the sync function - even going to a manual analyse and sync mode. I can also apply some rules to the sync such as "do not sync if more than X% of files have changed".
I think this would effectively provide a fully offline backup solution which is only accessible via Goodsync and with no access paths such as windows mapped drives for ransomware to propagate.
Does this make sense? Or am I missing something.